Catholic bishops fight for Christians’ rights (to discriminate)

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has decided to establish a religious liberty committee in order to better defend Christians from the sort of mounting persecution that’s made increasingly evident in every facet of our modern, secularized, anti-Christian society. And here, according to New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, are the crimes for which the existence of such a group is so sorely, if not to say self-evidently, needed:

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking to force private healthcare providers to carry contraceptive and sterilization services
• HHS wants to force the USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services to provide "the full range of reproductive services"
• The federal government is seeking to force international relief programs to offer reproductive health services
• The Department of Justice is attacking the Defense of Marriage Act, arguing that support for marriage is a form of bigotry
• The Justice Department is attacking a religious liberty known as the ministerial exception; it insulates religious employers from state encroachment
• New York State recently legalized gay marriage, providing a very narrow religious exemption

Because nothing says “organization to protect religious liberties” like fighting for the right to discriminate against women and gays.

Oh, wait. It really doesn’t.

Tags: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops • USCCB • Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty • Timothy Dolan • gay marriage • reproductive health